Declaration of Independence day Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Declaration of Independence day - Term Paper Example The independence day of the United States is celebrated on July, 4 as approved by the congress. The interpretation as well as sources of the declaration has been subject of scholarly evaluation and request even as the original version is displayed at the national archives in Washington, D.C. (Bond, September, 1). The most important and dominant theme of the document is, perhaps, the founding fathers’ vision and dream for the country as a democratic powerhouse in the global scene. True to their vision, the country has worked on many fronts to make a nation based on outlined democratic principles such as equality, right to life, liberty and a chance to exercise the pursuit of happiness (Armitage 22). The declaration highlights the American orientation to democratic foundations. It is clear that Jefferson represented the will of the American leadership. The retention of the resolve to protect â€Å"self-evident† principles of human life and social health, democracy was cultivated in the country’s long journey to success. The right to life is a fundamental truth in the American dream and as demonstrated in various national policies that ensure the protection of life, the country has made tremendous steps in establishing institutions to protect life. Provision of important li fe protection services offered by the federal government in relation to such subjects as food, shelter, income and healthcare are illustrations of how the culture of life is protected to date (Armitage 22). In view of how liberty was envisioned and implemented to date, America has a long journey. Political liberty is perhaps one of the most celebrated principles in America and as envisioned in the Declaration of Independence, the country rose to set an enormous standard for others to emulate (Bond 3). Through model governance structures and an impressive track record for accommodation of divergent views, America borrows a lot from the

Jacksonian Age women's reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Jacksonian Age women's reform - Essay Example These reform movements were known as ante-bellum reform movements. According to Cheathem (2008), the Jacksonian age was a period of democratic progress and increasing egalitarianism for men but one of regression and repression for women. The age characterized a male defined society and on the basis of equality; feminism characterized it as well as a struggle for female autonomy and self determination. Women were mainly seen as breeders and child bearers. The temperance movement called for restriction and outright prohibition of alcohol consumption due to its strong religious elements. Cheathem (2008) says that the apex of the ante-bellum reforms movement during the Jacksonian period was the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 which women listed the grievances that American women had against institutions that were male dominated and included lack of female suffrage. On female health, most medics did not have a respect for women’s bodily autonomy and many hysterectomies performed in the United States were medically unnecessary. Personal care becam e aggressively politicized and the politics of medicine became intensely personal. Doctors and scientists defined women’s nature in terms of their reproductive system and were seen as virtually pathological, causing a long list of emotional, mental and bodily complications (Cheathem, 2008). Female patients that suffered from mental health were treated by hydropathy; dumping cold water on patients and immersing them in icy pools. The Jacksonian era showed the ideologies of how the woman’s place was in the home. Edward Clarke, a Boston based doctor in 1874 warned society against letting young women pursue too demanding an education (Cheathem, 2008). Other arguments combined with religious authority, etiquette instruction and legal restrictions to declare women unsuited for the public sphere of politics, business and

Effects of Foreign Direct Investment

Effects of Foreign Direct Investment The removal of cross-border restrictions on international capital flows and the trend toward an integrated world economy has been a substantial progress over recent two decades. Hence, it has increased the growth of foreign direct investment(FDI) activity. Madura and Fox (2007) define foreign direct investment (FDI) as the investment in real assets (such as land, buildings, or even existing plants) in foreign countries. They also find that multinational corporations(MNCs) commonly capitalize on foreign business opportunities by engaging in FDI. They engage in joint ventures with foreign firms, acquire foreign firms, and form new foreign subsidiaries. These types of FDI can generate high returns when managed properly. A substantial investment is required, and thus can increase the risk at capital. It may be difficult for multinational corporation to sell the foreign project when the investment does not perform well as expected. In order to maximize the corporations value, it is significant for MNCs to understand the potential return and risk of FDI and analyze the potential benefits and costs before making investment decisions. 2.1.2 Motives for FDI The reason why firms locate production oversea rather than exporting from the home country or licensing production in the hose country, and the reason why firms seek to extend corporate control oversea by forming multinational corporations have been developed by many scholars. Kindleberger(1969) and Hymer(1976), emphasize various market imperfections in product, factor, and capital markets as the key motivating forces to accelerate FDI. Eun and Resnick (2004) explore some key factors that are important for corporations making decisions to invest oversea. These factors include trade barriers, imperfect labor market, intangible assets, vertical integration, product life cycle and shareholder diversification services. Dunning (1993) interpret four different types of motives for foreign direct investment: resource seeking, market seeking, efficiency seeking, and strategic asset (or capability )seeking. The first motive means that MNCs acquire some particular resources which may mainly cnsist of primary products at a lower cost in the host country than at home. The second motive depends on the expectation of new sales opportunities from the opening of markets where MNCs had no access at before. The third one refers to utilizing the specific comparative advantages of a host economy. The last one is related with long-term strategic considerations such as gaining an significant stake in the market in the long run. To be more specific, Madura and Fox (2007) indicate that MNCs engage in foreign direct investment widely because it can improve profitability and enhance shareholder wealth. In most cases, MNCs utilize FDI to boost revenues, reduce costs, or both. Revenue-related motives include attract new source of demand, enter profitable markets, exploit monopolistic advantages, react to trade restrictions and diversify internationally. Cost-related motives involve fully benefit from economies of scale, use foreign factors, use foreign raw materials, use foreign technology and react to exchange rate movements. 2.1.3 Benefits of FDI It seems unwise to conclude that both forms of geographic diversification are likely to be equally profitable or unprofitable. Errunza and Senbet (1981, 1984) find evidence to support a positive relation between excess firm value and the firms extent of international diversity by using multinational firms only. Focusing on international acquisitions, Doukas and Travlos (1988) and Doukas (1995) document that US bidders gain from industrial and international diversification. Similarly, Morck and Yeung (1991, 2001) find a positive relation between international diversification and firm value. However, they show that industrial diversification and international diversification add or destroy value in the presence or absence of intangible assets. Their findings support the view that the synergistic benefits of international diversification stem from the information-based assets of the firm. Christophe and Pfeiffer (1998) and Click and Harrison (2000) find that multinational firms trade at a discount relative to domestic firms. More recently Denis, Denis and Yost (2002), using the Berger and Ofek (1995) excess value measure and aggregate data, show that global diversification reduces shareholder value by 18%, whereas industrial diversification results in 20% shareholder loss. In contrast, Bodnar, Tang and Weintrop (1999), relying on a similar valuation measure, find share-holder value to increase with global diversification. Doukas and Lang (2003) take firms which made foreign new plant announcements during the period 1980 1992 as a sample, regardless of the industrial structure of the firm, they interpret that unrelated foreign direct investments are associated with negative announcement effects and long-term performance decreases in subsequent years, whereas related investments are associated with positive short-term and long-term performance. Although their findings indicate that both specialized and diversified firms benefit from core-business-related rather than non-core-business-related foreign direct investments, the gains are larger for diversified firms. They conclude that geographic expansion of the firms core business itself is beneficial to shareholder value. In contrast, they find that geographic expansion of the firms peripheral (non-core) business harms firm value and performance. Hence the evidence indicates that the internalization theory is more consistent with the international expans ion of the core rather than the non-core business of the firm. That is, the positive synergies from global diversification are rooted in the firms core competencies. Theories of foreign direct investment (FDI) agree on at least one major point: foreign firms mush have inherent advantages that allow them to overcome the higher costs of becoming a multinational (Hymer, 1976) These advantages may be tangible, such as an improved production process or a product innovation. They also may be intangible, such as brand names, better management structures or the technical knowledge of employees. Girma, Greenaway and Wakelin (2001) conclude that foreign firms do have higher productivity than domestic firms and they pay higher wages in the UK after their investigation. They do not find aggregate evidence of intra-industry spillovers. However, firms with low productivity relate to the sector average, in low-skill low foreign competition sectors gain less from foreign firms. FDI brings two main benefits to the host country. First, it introduces new production facilities into the domestic economy directly, or may rescue failing firms in the case of acquisition, raising overall output, employment and exports. Second, domestic governments hope that foreign firms will be unable to internalise their advantages fully, and local firms can benefit through spillover. 2.1.4 Effects of FDI Borensztein, Gregorio and Lee (1998) test the effect of foreign direct investment (FDI) on economic growth in a cross-country regression framework by utilizing data on FDI flows from industrial countries to 69 developing countries over the last two decades. The results suggest that FDI is significant for transfer technology, and contribute more to growth than domestic investment. Moreover, they find that the contribution of FDI to economic growth is improved by its interaction with the level of human capital in the host country. However, the empirical results imply that FDI is more productive than domestic investment only when the host country has a minimum threshold stock of human capital. Thus, FDI contributes to economic growth only when a sufficient absorptive capability of the advanced technologies is available in the host economy. Investigating the effect of FDI on domestic investment, they find that the inflow of foreign capital à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"crowds in domestic investment rather than à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"crowds out. FDI support the expansion of domestic firms by complementarity in production or by increasing productivity through the spillover of advanced technology. A one-dollar increase in the net inflow of FDI is associated with an increase in total investment in the host economy of more than one dollar, but do not appear to be very robust. Thus, it appears that the main channel through which FDI contributes to economic growth is by stimulating technological progress, rather than by increasing total capital accumulation in the host economy. Markusen and Venables (1999) develops an analytical framework to assess the effects how an FDI project affect local firms in the same industry. There are two forces for the effect of entry of a multinational firm on the domestic industry. One is a competition effect, under which multinationals displace domestic final-goods producers, and the other is a linkage effect back to intermediate-goods producers, creating complementarities which could benefit domestic final-goods producers. They explore the determinants of the relative strengths of these effects. In circumstances of initial equilibrium with no local production, multinational entry can push the economy over to an equilibrium with local production in both the intermediate and final-goods industries, with a resulting welfare improvement. They then pay attention to endogenise the entry decision of multinational firms. It may now also be the case that multinationals provide the initial impetus for industrialisation, but the developed local industry creates sufficiently intense competition to eventually drive the multinationals out of the market. Hobday (1995) finds initial multinational investments in developing East Asia created backward linkage effects to local suppliers in a large number of situations. There are some examples such as computer keyboards, personal computers, sewing machines, athletic shoes, and bicycles in Taiwan. 2.2 Cost of capital and capital structure Many major firms through the world have begun to internationalize their capital structure by raising funds from foreign as well as domestic sources. As a result, these corporations become multinational not only in the scope of their business activities but also in their capital structure. This trend reflects not only a conscious effort on the part of firms to lower the cost of capital by international sourcing of funds but also the ongoing liberalization and deregulation of international financial markets. If international financial markets were completely integrated, it would not matter whether firms raised capital from domestic or foreign sources because the cost of capital would be equalized across countries. On the other hand, some markets are less than fully integrated, firms may be able to create value for their shareholders by issuing securities in foreign as well as domestic markets. Cross-listing of a firms shares on foreign stock exchanges is one way a firm operating in a segmented capital market can lessen the negative effects of segmentation and also internationalize the firms capital structure. For example, IBM, Sony, and British Petroleum are simultaneously listed and traded on the New York, London, and Tokyo stock exchanges. By internationalizing its corporate ownership structure, a firm can generally increase its shares price and lower its cost of capital. 2.2.1 Definition of cost of capital Eun and Resnick define the cost of capital as the minimum rate of return an investment project must generate in order to pay its financing costs. If the return on an investment project is equal to the cost of capital, under taking the project will leave the firms value unaffected. When a firm identifies and undertakes an investment project that generate a return exceeding its cost of capital, the firms value will increase. It is significant for a value-maximizing firm to try to lower its cost of capital. Madura and Fox (2007) explain that a firms weighted average cost of capital (referred to as Kc ) can be measured as: Kc = [D/(D+E )] * Kd * ( 1-t ) + [E / (D+E)] * Ke Where: D = market value of firms debt Kd = the before-tax cost of its debt t = the corporate tax rate E = the firms equity at market value Ke = the cost of financing with equity The ratios reflect the percentage of capital represented by debt and equity, respectively. In total the cost f capital, Kc is the average cost of all providers of finance to the firms. A multinational company finances its operations by using a mixture of fixed interest borrowing and equity financing that can minimize the overall cost of capital (the weighted average of its interest rate and dividend payment). By minimizing the cost of capital used to finance a given size and risk of operations ,financial managers can maximize the value of the company and therefore maximize shareholder wealth. According to the different size of firm, international diversification, exposure to exchange rate risk, access to international capital markets and exposure to country risk, the cost of capital for MNCs may different from that for domestic firms. 2.2.2 Costs of capital across countries Madura and Fox (2007) interpret that the reason why cost of capital is different among countries is relevant for three reasons. First, MNCs based in some countries may have more competitive advantages than others not only for the different technology and resources across countries, but also the cost of capital. MNCs in some countries will have a larger set of feasible projects with positive net present value because of the lower cost of capital, hence these MNCs can increase their world market share more easily. MNCs operating in countries with a higher cost of capital will be forced to decline projects. Second, MNCs may be able to adjust their international operations and sources of funds to capitalize on differences in the cost of capital among countries. Third, the different component as debt and equity in the cost capital can explain why MNCs based in some countries tend to use a more debt-intensive capital structure than others. To estimate an overall cost of capital for an MNCs, it needs to combine the costs of debt and equity, and weight the relative proportions of debt and equity. The cost of debt to a firm is primarily determined by the risk-free interest rate in the currency borrowed and the risk premium required by creditors. Risk-free interest rate is determined by the interaction of the supply and demand for funds. Factors include tax laws, demographics, monetary policies and economic conditions can influence the supply and demand then affect the risk-free rate. The risk premium on debt can vary among countries because of the different economic conditions, relations between corporations and creditors, government intervention, and degree of financial leverage. In addition, a firms cost of equity represents an opportunity cost what shareholders could earn on investments with similar risk if the equity funds were distributed to them. This return on equity can be measured as a risk-free interest rate th at could have been earned by shareholders, plus a premium to reflect the risk of the firm. According to the different economic environments, the risk premium and the cost of equity will vary among countries. 2.2.3 MNCs capital structure decision Madura and Fox.(2007) indicate that an MNCs capital structure decision includes the choice of debt versus equity financing within all of its subsidiaries, hence the overall capital structure is combined of all subsidiaries capital structures. The advantages of using debtor equity vary according to the corporate characteristics specific to each MNC and specific to countries where the MNCs establish subsidiaries. They interpret some specific corporate characteristics which can influence MNCs capital structure. MNCs with more stable cash flows can deal with more debt because their cash flows are constant to cover periodic interest payments. In contrast, MNCs with erratic cash flows might prefer less debt. MNCs with lower credit risk have more access to credit, their choice of using debt or equity can be affected by factors which influence credit risk. MNCs with high profit may be able to finance most of investment with retaining earnings and use an equity-intensive capital structure, while others with small level of retained earnings may prefer on debt financing. The subsidiaries borrowing capacity may be increase and need less equity financing once the parent backs the debt. Agency costs are higher when a subsidiary in foreign country can not be monitored easily be investor from parents country. In addition, they also describe the specific country characteristics unique to each host country can influence MNCs choice of debt versus equity financing and thus influence their capital structure. Firstly, some host countries have stock restrictions which means the governments allow investment only in local stocks. This kind of barrier of cross-border investing, potential adverse exchange rate and tax effects can discourage investment outside home countries. MNCs operated in these countries where investor have fewer stock investment opportunities may be able to raise equity at a relatively low cost, and they would prefer using more equity by issuing stocks. Secondly, according to the government-imposed barriers on capital flows along with potential adverse exchange rate, tax and country risk effects, loanable funds do not always flows th where they are needed most and the price of them can vary across different countries. MNCs may be able to obtain loanable funds at lower cost in s ome countries and they will prefer the debt financing. Thirdly, regard of the potential weakness of the currencies in subsidiaries host countries, an MNC may attempt to finance by borrowing currencies instead of relying on parent funds. Subsidiaries may remit a smaller amount in earning because they can make interest payments on local debt, and thus reduce the exposure to exchange rate. Conversely, subsidiaries may retain and reinvest more of its earnings when the parent believes a subsidiaries local currency will appreciate against its own currency. The parent may provide an cash infusion to finance growth in the subsidiaries, and thus transfer the internal funds from the parent to subsidiary possibly resulting in more external financing by the parent and less debt financing by the subsidiary. Fourthly, possibility of a kind of country risk is that the host country will temporarily block funds to be remitted by subsidiary to the parent. Thus aubsidiraies may prefer to local debt fi nancing. At last, MNCs make interest rate payments on the local debt when they are subject to a withholding tax. Foreign subsidiaries may also use local debt if the host country impose high corporate tax rates on foreign earnings. Bancel and Mittoo (2004) survey on the cross-country comparisons of managerial views on determinants of capital structure in a sample of 16 European countries: Austria, Belgium, Greece, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, and the UK. They show that factors related to debt are influenced more, and those related to equity are influenced less, by the countrys institutional structure, especially the quality of its legal system. They find that financial flexibility and earnings per share dilution are primary concerns of managers in issuing debt and common stock, respectively. Managers also value hedging considerations and use windows of opportunity when raising capital. This evidence strengthens arguments of La Porta et al. (1997, 1998) that the availability of external financing in a country is influenced primarily by its legal environment. Since agency costs of debt are likely to be higher in countries with lower quality of legal systems, this evidence is also consistent with theories of capital structure such as agency theory that assign a central role to debt contracts and bankruptcy law (Harris and Raviv, 1991). They find that although a countrys legal environment is an important determinant of debt policy, but it plays a minimal role in common stock policy. They find that firms financing policies are influenced by both their institutional environment and their international operations. They also show that firms can adopt strategies to mitigate the negative effects of the quality of the legal environment in their home country. For instance, firms in civil-law countries have significantly higher concerns for maintaining target debt-to-equity ratios and matching maturity than do their peers in the common-law countries. Further, they find that firms operating internationally have significantly different views than do their peers in several ways. For example, firms that have issued foreign debt or equity in the sample during the last ten years are more concerned about credit ratings. Firm-specific variables that are commonly used in the capital structure literature to explain leverage also expla in cross-country differences in managerial rankings of several factors. For example, large firms are less concerned about bankruptcy costs, and high growth firms consider common stock as the cheapest source of funds and use windows of opportunity to issue common stock. These results support the arguement by Rajan and Zingales (1995, 2003), that firms capital structures are the result of a complex interaction of several institutional features as well as firm characteristics in the home country. Their results support that most firms determine their optimal capital structure by trading off factors such as tax advantage of debt, bankruptcy costs, agency costs, and accessibility to external financing. They confirm the conclusions of Titman (2002): Corporate treasurers do occasionally think about the kind of trade-offs between tax savings and financial distress costs that we teach in our corporate finance classes. However, since this trade-off does not change much over time, the balancing of the costs and benefits of debt financing that they emphasize much is not MNCs major concern. They spend much more time thinking about changes in market conditions and the implications of these changes on how firms should be financed. Lee and Kwok (1988) examine the impact of international environmental factors on some firm-related capital structure determinants which in turn affect the MNCs overall capital structure. They consider international environmental variables of political risk, international market imperfections, complexity of operations, opportunities for international diversification, foreign exchange risk and local factors of host countries, and test agency costs and bankruptcy costs. They find that MNCs tend to have higher agency costs of debt according to Myers definition than DCs. This finding remained unchanged even when size and industry effects were controlled. Though MNCs appeared to have lower bankruptcy costs than DCs, the difference largely disappeared when the size effect was controlled. Quite contrary to the conventional wisdom, the empirical findings showed that MNCs tended to be less leveraged than DCs. This finding remained even when the size effect was controlled. However, when compani es were separated under different industry groups, the results varied significantly. Burgman (1996) directly estimate the effect of foreign exchange risk and political risk on the capital structure of MNCs. Using the foreign tax ratio to classify firms as either MNCs or DCs and controlling for industry and size effects, Burgman finds that MNCs have lower debt ratios and higher agency costs than DCs. Furthermore, international diversification does not appear to lower earnings volatility. To estimate the sensitivity of a firm to foreign exchange risk, Burgman conducts a regression analysis of the stock returns of each sample firm on the returns of an index of U.S. stocks and on the U.S.$:SDR returns. His political risk measure is based on the following ratio: number of low political risk countries to the total number of countries in which the firm operates. Low political risk countries are the top 20 in the country risk rankings provided by Euromoney in 1989. The results of a regression analysis for his sample of MNCs suggest that the debt ratios of these companies are positively related to both risks. Burgman concludes that this evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that MNCs use debt policy as a tool to hedge foreign exchange risk and political risk. Chen et al. (1997) conducted regression analyses to investigate the effect of international activities (as measured by foreign pre-tax income) on capital structure. They report that even after controlling for firm size, agency costs of debt, bankruptcy costs and profitability, the long-term debt ratios of MNCs are lower than those of DCs. However, within their sample of MNCs, debt ratios increase with the level of international activities. 2.2.4 Segmented capital market A capital market for asset claims is integrated when the opportunity set of investments available to each and every investor is the universe of all possible asset claims. In contrast, a capital market is segmented when certain groups of investors limit their investments to a subset of the universe of all possible asset claims. Such market segmentation can occur because of ignorance about the universe of possible asset claims, or because of transactions costs (brokerage costs, taxes, or information acquisition costs), or because of legal impediments. From an international perspective, market segmentation typically occurs along national borders, a condition wherein investors in each country acquire only domestic asset claims. Grubel, Levy and Sarnat, and Lessard employ a mean-variance portfolio theoretic framework, have stressed the benefits of diversifying investments across national borders, namely the pooling of risks that results from investing in projects that are less than perfectly correlated. Subrahmanyam points out that when segmented capital markets are integrated, in addition to the diversification effect (always positive), there is a wealth effect (possibly negative) which arises out of changes in the macro-parameters of the risk-return relationship. For the special cases of quadratic, exponential, and logarithmic utility functions, it can be shown that international capital market integration is Pareto-optimal, that is, the welfare of individuals in the integrated economies will not decline, and will generally improve. The positive effect of an expansion in the opportunity set offsets any negative wealth effect. The market reformed and liberalized in developed economies in the 1970s and emerging economies during the second half of the 1980s led to the removal of many barriers. The deregulation and the development of local equity markets allowed the possibility of foreign portfolio investments (FPIs). Overall, FPIs would provide a new source of capital and internationalize the domestic capital markets. Subsequent improvements in risk sharing and risk matching would cause the cost of capital to fall. Errunza and Miller (2000 ) use a sample of 126 firms from 32 countries, document a significant decline of 42% in the cost of capital. In addition, they show the decline is driven by the ability of U.S. investors to span the foreign security prior to cross-listing. The findings support the hypothesis that financial market liberalizations have significant economic benefits. 2.2.5 Interaction between subsidiary and parent financing decisions In segmented markets the parent and its subsidiaries will generally have different valuation objectives and investment-acceptance criteria. Under some conditions these depend on the international financing mix. Decentralization can be optimal in the sense of global maximization, provided that the parent is unrealistically free, ex-ante, to optimize its percentage ownership in the subsidiaries at the beginning of each planning period. In the case of a two-country firm, the subsidiaries maximands are independent of the parents. But when the parents ownership position is predetermined at a fixed level, as it is normally, the situation is radically different. Market values cannot then be maximized independently and Pareto optimization is required. Michaels (1974) main result is that, unless agreement can be reached on a compensation principle, the joint ventures cost of capital will be indeterminate. In such circumstances optimal financial planning for the MNC as a whole may be impossibl e. Concluding remarks draw attention to the attendant possibility that the MNC in this case may be unstable and/or inefficient. 2.2.6 The MNCs capital structure decision An MNCs capital structure decision involves the choice of debt versus equity financing within all of its subsidiaries. Thus, its overall capital structure is essentially a combination of all of its subsidiaries capital structures. MNCs recognize the tradeoff between using debt and using equity for financing their operations. The advantages of using debt as opposed to equity vary with corporate characteristics specific to each MNC and specific to the countries where the MNC has established subsidiaries. Madera and Fox (2007) indicate some common firm-specific characteristics that affect the Macs capital structure such as stability of Macs cash flows, Macs credit risk, Macs access to retained earnings, Macs guarantees on debt and Macs agency problems. They also point the unique host country characteristics can influence the MNCs choice of debt versus equity financing and therefore influence the MNCs capital structure. These characteristics include stock restrictions in host countries, interest rates in hose countries, strength of host country currencies, country risk in host countries and tax laws in host countries. 2.3 Risk analysis 2.3.1 Country risks With operations under the jurisdiction of a foreign government the firm is also exposed to political risk, therefore it must estimate the potential costs it will face due to unstable governments, regime change and changes in policies. Political risk may be defined as a particular exposure to risk which depends on the actions of a government, and its assessment or analysis for a MNC is a decision-making tool for investing in foreign countries. An MNC must assess country risk not only in countries where it currently does business but also in those where it expects to export or establish subsidiaries. Many country risk characteristics related to the political environment can influence an MNC. Madura and Fox (2007) indicate that an extreme form of political risk is the possibility that the host country will take over a subsidiary. In some cases of expropriation, some compensation is awarded, and the amount is decided by the hose country government. In other cases, the assets are confiscated and no compensation is provided. Expropriation can take place peacefully or by force. They also explore other common forms of country related risks include attitude of consumers in the host country, actions of host government, blockage of fund transfers, currency inconvertibility, war, bureaucracy and corruption. Over recent decades, there has been a significant increase in political risk for MNCs. This is true not only for an MNCs operations in developing countries, but also for those in developed countries. Governments have felt the need to respond to various pressure groups aimed at curbing the power of MNCs. For example, oil companies may face unfavourable legislation designed to pay for the damage to environment. Developing countries may have to respond to populist sentiments or worsening economic circumstances by seeking to renege on contracts signed by previous regimes. Another risk area which has grown in recent years has been the strength of fundamentalist religious groups in a number of eco

The Philosophy of Birches :: Robert Frost Birches Essays

The Philosophy of Birches  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   The philosophy expressed in "Birches" poses no threat to popular values or beliefs, and it is so appealingly affirmative that many readers have treasured the poem as a masterpiece. Among Frost's most celebrated works, perhaps only "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening" ranks ahead of it. Yet to critics like Brooks and Squires, the persona's philosophical stance in "Birches" is a serious weakness. [. . .] The didactic and philosophical element that some critics have attacked strikes others as the very core of Frost's virtue. [. . .] Perhaps impartial observers can accept the notion that "Birches" is neither as bad as its harshest opponents suggest nor as good as its most adoring advocates claim. [. . .] "Birches" . . . contains three fairly lengthy descriptions that do not involve unusual perspectives. In fact, the most original and distinctive vision in the poem--the passage treating the ice on the trees (ll. 5-14)--is undercut both by the self-consciousness of its final line ("You'd think the inner dome of heaven had fallen") and by the two much more conventionally perceived environments that follow it: the rural boyhood of the swinger of birches (ll. 23-40) and the "pathless wood," which represents life's "considerations" (ll. 44-47). As a result, the poem's ardent concluding lines--its closing pronouncements on life, death, and human aspiration--do not arise from a particular experience. Instead, they are presented as doctrines that we must accept or reject on the basis of our credence in the speaker as a wise countryman whose familiarity with birch trees, ice storms, and pathless woods gives him authority as a philosopher. Since in "Birches" the natural object--tree, ice crystal, pathless wood, etc.--functions as proof of the speaker's rusticity, Frost has no need for extraordinary perspectives, and therefore the poem does little to convince us that an "experience," to use [Robert] Langbaum's wording, "is really taking place, that the object is seen and not merely remembered from a public or abstract view of it." This is not to deny that the poem contains some brilliant descriptive passages (especially memorable are the clicking, cracking, shattering ice crystals in lines 7-11 and the boy's painstaking climb and sudden, exhilarating descent in lines 35-40), and without doubt, the closing lines offer an engaging exegesis of swinging birches as a way of life. But though we learn a great deal about this speaker's beliefs and preferences, we find at last that he has not revealed himself as profoundly as does the speaker in "After Apple-Picking.

Psychological Aspects of Remember the Titans

Quinn Psych 100 November 13, 2012 Psychology in Movies Psychology is the study of or science of how individuals and groups behave and their mental processes. Characteristics of these behaviors and mental processes are portrayed in many different ways within the movies that we create. Within the movie, Remember the Titans, many social psychology concepts are present. Remember the Titans is a movie set in Virginia 1971, its about a high school football team and how they come together in order to try and win the state championship.Unfortunately it is not that simple, this is a high school that has just been forced to integrate in a time of racial segregation, in a town where football is everything and is most of the boys’ ticket out of town and onto college. The three concepts that are evident in the movie are foot-in-the-door phenomenon, groupthink, and ingroup bias and outgroup. The first concept is foot-in-the-door phenomenon. There is a scene where the teams newly appointed A frican American head coach, Coach Boone, forces all the boys off the two busses taking them to their two week camp.Then he separates the team into two groups, offense and defense, and then pairs each player with a teammate of a different race. Coach Boone goes on to explain to them that this is also the person with whom they will be sharing a room with; this is his initial small request. As camp continues on the team gets to know each other and slowly the race lines between them fade and they become close to each other. So Coach Boone’s initial request helped the team to later comply with his request of them to play together as a strong bonded team.This later request would not have been possible if asked originally, he had to start with a smaller request and work his way up to the larger request. Groupthink is the second psychology concept within Remember the Titans. After the team returns from the football camp, where they united together, they win a couple of games but the hatred and racism is still strong within the town and they slowly disband because of this. Gerry, Julius, Rev, and Louie tell the team about a mandatory team meeting, but as the other teammates show up they start to realize that the coaches aren’t there and are about to leave.The four that organized this meeting ask them to stay and hear them out. They talk about winning games but point out that that isn’t a win, sticking together through all the chaos as a team is a true win. This meeting or decision making group decide to work for harmony within the group and let it override the realistic alternative of reverting back to the hate of each other that is the norm in the town. This entire movie is encased with ingroup bias and outgroups. A great example of this is a scene when the team is at their football camp.Louie goes to sit down at a table of all African Americans and Julius says, â€Å"What you doing man? † Louie answers â€Å"I’m eating lunch. † and Julius replies â€Å"I see you eating lunch. Why you eating over here? Why don’t you go on over there and eat with your people. † This shows Julius’ tendency to favor his own group over Louie who is perceived to be part of a group that is different than his group. Remember the Titans being set in a segregated time is all about the in-group and out-group.In conclusion, the three concepts that are evident in Remember the Titans are foot-in-the-door phenomenon, groupthink, and ingroup bias and outgroup. Adding these concepts into the plot made this a stronger storyline, by creating a dynamic story. The concept of groupthink is a concept that I think isn’t experienced enough with most people having a â€Å"me† attitude rather than the desire for harmony or that anyone should feel outside or not part of the ingroup. This has opened my eyes to all the social psychology aspects within movies.

God’s faithfulness

Log then Capture Sometimes we are that piece of log. Lifeless. No shape. No form. No beauty. Nothing special about it. But God sees something special about you. People around you may say that you are bound to fail because you were not able to go to school, or because you are poor, or because you have no talent, or because you have a broken family. But the sculptor, our God, sees something special about you? The reason why you are here. He sees greatness in you because he has created you for that purpose-?for greatness! We may not see it at the moment.Because God is still working that masterpiece in you. Our text is taken from Ephesians 2:10 which says, ‘We are God's workmanship, retreated in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. † 1. We are God's Workmanship A. Every Human is Created by God in His Image (Genesis 126-27) a. Like this picture (father and son), we can say that they are father and son. Because the son resembles his father. Sino as ninny nag kumara nag mama o papa ninny? Dib sometimes people will know who you are because of your resemblance with your parents. Again din asana Toyota Kay Lord.When people see us, they need not ask if you are a Christian because from your words and actions, they will know that you are God's son and daughter. B. I know how hard it is to become a Christian. A lot of people have difficulty in deciding to follow Christ because there are so many things an â€Å"bawl†. Bawl magma boyfriends/ girlfriend. Bawl minimum/managerially. God wants us to follow these DON TTS because he actually wants to protect us. Protect us from early pregnancy, early fatherhood/motherhood, sickness like lung cancer, liver problems, hypertension, etc.Asana normalize anti LATA nag to. God loves you so much that He doesn't want you to make decisions that may harm you in the future. C. And like the father in the prodigal son, no matter how we fail him, he will till welcome you back with love and f orgiveness. God loves us so much. B. Every Christian has been created again in Christ. A. Created IN CHRIST JESUS. This means that even before JESUS CHRIST came into the world to save us, He was actually already present from the beginning. Before Adam and Eve had ever sinned against God, they were perfect like Jesus Christ.But when sin came into the picture, the perfection was destroyed. We became sinners, unfaithful, selfish and unrighteous. B. But in 2 Corinthians 7 of the New Testament, It says there, â€Å"If anyone is IN CHRIST, he is a NEW CREATION, the old has gone and the new has come. God gave us another chance through Jesus Christ to redeem ourselves. To have that connection with Him again and enjoy the abundance and the fullness of His love. C. Have made a lot of mistakes again and again and yet, God never really gave up on me.Katie guano pa kali nag Salinas MO as Kenya, He would even be the one to come near you and not to remind you of your sins but to remind you that H e loves you so much despite of everything. So, if you are here today and you have made a serious mistake in the past, do not let that define you. You are created for something more than you're past. Tell the arson next to you, be patient with me, God IS not yet finished With me. 2. We are created for good works a. Many people believed that good works are enough for them to be saved.But it is said in Ephesians 2:8-9, â€Å"For by grace you have been saved through faith, not of yourselves, it is a gift from God so that no one can boast. B. Our good works cannot save us because even our good works are also influenced by our needs, ideologies and beliefs. Sometimes, we help people because we Want to pay it forward so that when the time comes that We will be needing their help, they will also help us. Sometimes, we help other people so we can e recognized. We help others because they have helped us. Even our best is tainted with sin. C. Our good works can sometimes cause us to boast.The reason why God used the young and small David to kill Goliath, the shepherd boy and the youngest Joseph to be the ruler, the killers of Christians Saul to be Paul who confesses God with all his heart, the old and barren Sarah to give birth to Isaac or the young and lustful David to be the man after God's own heart-?the reason why God used them is so that they will say that it was not them but it was all because of God. D. Sometimes we are afraid to be involved n the church because we feel that we are incompetent, poor, weak, untalented, shy or that we are not good enough.But guess what God wants people like you and me to serve Him and glorify His name. MY TESTIMONY: I have been a Christian since I was in kindergarten. But I came to really understand God's word when was in high school. But understanding is different from actually obeying God's commands. Like anybody in this room, I was really struggling. Having a knowledge of what is right and evil makes me more accountable of our a ctions. Which is more hurting? When your grade 1 friend had left you? Or when your best friend since grade 1 until now had suddenly left you with no explanation? It is the latter. Why?Because you have known and understand better that friends really don't just do that. Same is true with our relationship with God. When we were little, it was okay that we were not praying everyday, meditating on his words or obeying his commands because we still did not understand the real meaning of Christianity. Which is actually living life like Christ. In high school, was a church gore and even joined the activities of the church. But was not actually doing everything that he said in his word. Was actually doing a lot of things that you also are doing. But nevertheless, God has still been very faithful to me.He caused me to finish on top of our class even when was not faithful. That chapter of my life was also the time when we almost lost everything we own. We lost the house, the lumber yard, the p awnshop, the cars, and the hardware. If God was not with us, we might have also lost our family. No matter how sinful, unfaithful and hard-headed we are, God will find a way to reach out to you. When I started college, I came to know Christ more through the campus crusade for Christ. It was easier to change because I have people around me ho are supporting me and joining me in my walk with Christ.We were winning souls in the campus. I felt very secure and fulfilled that time. Was being used by God in his ministry. But then again, the college years had to end. When I was starting medicine, I went to another school and lost contact with my campus crusade friends. I was becoming busy reaching for my dream of becoming a doctor when was beginning to lose my relationship with God. I Was not as disobedient as Was when was in high school. But then again, I was spending most of my time in school. I became just a church gore. I was till able to finish well through God's faithfulness.When I wa s in Dave last year, where was having my internship for one year. This was the time when began to slowly lose my sight of God. I was back into my old self or even worse. But even though this times, God has remained faithful to me and my family. Was able to finish my internship and passed the exam. I may have failed God and my family several times in my life. But God never fails. He never gave up on me. He has always given many chances to straighten up my life. I admit that at the moment, I am still getting back on the right track and it is very hard to do so.

The Change Essays - Startup Cult, Chitto Harjo, Free Essays

The Change Essays - Startup Cult, Chitto Harjo, Free Essays The Change Essay In this essay I am supposed to discuss a project or activity that best represents me. I thought about this for a while, and I decided I would talk about my piano lessons. My parents didnt make me take them, and I didnt take them because it was just something to do. There is a lot behind the story. About a year and a half ago, I suffered an injury that put me out of basketball for 6 months. To me, it was the end of the world. Basketball was supposed to be my future. It was what I thought I was going to do. It was my life. Everything I did centered around it, and I wanted to be the best at it. I was on top of my game, and the next minute I was watching everyone else play from the bench. I would get angry and frustrated, and wonder why it happened to me. I was out for the whole summer, and that affected my game a lot. I went out for basketball the next season, but I didnt do very well. I was irritated at how inefficiently I was playing. After the season got over, I knew I would have to make a big decision. A decision that would, perhaps, affect the rest of my life. I had to determine if I wanted to continue with basketball, or pursue other things I wanted to do. I considered how unhappy basketball was making me, and how I wished I could do other things. Following a lot of thought , I came to the decision that I would stop playing basketball. Most everyone was devastated, but I think it was the right choice. After my resolve to quit basketball, I took time to think of things I enjoy doing. I loved to sing, and I loved music. This led me to take piano lessons. I have only been taking them for eight months, but I have found a deep love of music I never knew I had. I have learned so much about myself, and what it is I actually want to do with my life. I have worked diligently, and I have progressed a considerable amount. I have a passion for this new activity that surprises me. It feels like I cant learn enough, or play enough. I believe I like piano so much, because I knew it was what I wanted to do. I did have to sacrifice something I thought I loved, but I found out I loved doing something else. From this experience, I learned that you cant always expect things to be the way they are now. People change, and circumstances are always changing. I still am very angry that I ever got an injury, but I believe it helped me to find something that I love. I would have never got the chance to play piano if I hadnt had that injury. There will be many tough decisions in life, and youve got to trust in yourself when you make them. Youre the one who will live with it. Because after all, we make our decisions, and our decisions turn around and make us.

A Beginners Guide Tenses of Latin Verbs

A Beginner's Guide Tenses of Latin Verbs Latin is an inflected language  where the verbs include a lot of information about the sentence. Sometimes the verb is the only word in the sentence. Even without a noun or pronoun, a Latin verb can tell you who/what the subject is. It can also tell you the time frame, interval, or tense. When you parse a Latin verb, you deconstruct these and other facets of the Latin. When you parse a Latin verb, you list the following: Meaning/translationPersonNumberMoodVoice (active/passive)Tense/aspect Tense, as mentioned, refers to time. In Latin, there are 3 simple and 3 perfect tenses, a total of 6, and they come in both active and passive forms. Moods in Different Tenses The Indicative Mood is the most common and thats what this page is about. You need to make note of the mood when parsing a verb. Most statement sentences use the indicative. In English, we generally contrast indicative with conditional sentences, although English has the Latin moods (Indicative, Subjunctive*, and Imperative**). Present Tense The first of the simple tenses in the Indicative Mood is the present tense. The present tense in the Indicative Mood has both Active and Passive voices. The present tense shows action that is happening now. I walk - ambulo Latin Imperfect Tense The next tense is the imperfect, which conveys incompleted action in the past. Imperfect means incomplete or unfinished. When translating an imperfect verb, the simple past tense sometimes works. Other times, was plus an -ing ending on the verb or used to plus the verb will convey the incompleted past action. I was walking - ambulabam The imperfect tense in Latin is used for both continuous and habitual actions in the past. Latin Future Tense The third tense is the future tense. A verb in the future tense conveys an action that will happen in the future. The customary auxiliary verb denoting the future tense is will. He will walk - ambulabit The 1st person singular future ambulabo is translated I shall walk technically. Most people in the U.S., if not in the rest of the anglophone world, would say I will walk. The same is true of the 1st person plural ambulabimus: technically, its we shall walk, but in custom, its we will walk. In the second and third person, its just will without qualification. Latin Verb Endings Active Singular -o, -m-s-t Active Plural -mus-tis-nt Passive Singular -or, -r-ris-tur Passive Plural -mur-mini-ntur Perfect Active Endings Singular   -i-isti-it Plural -imus-istis-erunt (sometimes -ere) Past Tenses Past or perfected tenses are used for completed actions. There are 3 such tenses: Perfect,PluperfectFuture perfect. Latin (Past) Perfect Tense Generally simply called the perfect tense, this tense refers to an action that has been completed. Either a simple past tense ending (e.g., -ed) or the auxiliary verb have conveys the perfect tense. I walked - ambulavi You may also translate it: I have walked. Latin Pluperfect Tense A verb is in the pluperfect tense if it was completed prior to another. Usually the auxiliary verb had signifies a pluperfect verb. I had walked - ambulaveram Latin Future Perfect Tense Future perfect is used to convey an action that will have been completed prior to something else. Will have are the customary auxiliary verbs. I will have walked - ambulavero *  More advanced:  In the Subjunctive Mood, there are 4 tenses, both active and passive: Present,Imperfect,Perfect, andPluperfect. ** There is ordinarily one Latin tense in the Imperative Mood, with both active and passive forms.

Major General James H. Wilson in the Civil War

Major General James H. Wilson in the Civil War James H. Wilson - Early Life: Born September 2, 1837 in Shawneetown, IL, James H. Wilson received his education locally before attending McKendree College.   Remaining there for a year, he then applied for an appointment to West Point.   Granted, Wilson arrived at the academy in 1856 where his classmates included Wesley Merritt and Stephen D. Ramseur.   A gifted student, he graduated four years later ranked sixth in a class of forty-one. This performance earned him a posting to the Corps of Engineers.   Commissioned as a second lieutenant, Wilsons initial assignment saw him serve at Fort Vancouver in the Department of Oregon as a topographical engineer.   With the beginning of the Civil War the following year, Wilson returned east for service in the Union Army. James H. Wilson - A Gifted Engineer Staff Officer: Assigned to Flag Officer Samuel F. Du Pont and Brigadier General Thomas Shermans expedition against Port Royal, SC, Wilson continued to serve as a topographical engineer.   Taking part in this effort in late 1861, he remained in the region in the spring of 1862 and aided Union forces during the successful siege of Fort Pulaski.   Ordered north, Wilson joined the staff of Major General George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac.   Serving as an aide-de-camp, he saw action during the Union victories at South Mountain and Antietam that September.   The following month, Wilson received orders to serve as the chief topographical engineer in Major General Ulysses S. Grants Army of the Tennessee. Arriving in Mississippi, Wilson aided Grants efforts to capture the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg.   Made inspector general of the army, he was in this post during the campaign that led to the siege of the city including the fighting at Champion Hill and Big Black River Bridge.   Earning Grants trust, he remained with him in the fall of 1863 for the campaign to relieve Major General William S. Rosecrans Army of the Cumberland at Chattanooga.   Following the victory at the Battle of Chattanooga, Wilson received a promotion to brigadier general and moved north as chief engineer of Major General William T. Shermans force which was tasked with aiding Major General Ambrose Burnside at Knoxville.   Ordered to Washington, DC in February 1864, he assumed command of the Cavalry Bureau.   In this position he worked tirelessly to supply the Union Armys cavalry and lobbied to equip it with fast-loading Spencer repeating carbines. James H. Wilson - Cavalry Commander: Though an able administrator, Wilson received a brevet promotion to major general on May 6 and command of a division in Major General Philip H. Sheridans Cavalry Corps.   Taking part in Grants Overland Campaign, he saw action at the Wilderness and played a role in Sheridans victory at Yellow Tavern.   Remaining with the Army of the Potomac for much of the campaign, Wilsons men screened its movements and provided reconnaissance.    With the beginning of the siege of Petersburg in June, Wilson and Brigadier General August Kautz were tasked with conducting a raid into General Robert E. Lees rear to destroy key railroads that supplied the city.   Riding out on June 22, the effort initially proved successful as over sixty miles of track were destroyed.   Despite this, the raid quickly turned against Wilson and Kautz as attempts to destroy the Staunton River Bridge failed.   Harried east by Confederate cavalry, the two commanders were blocked by enemy forces at Reams Station on June 29 and were forced to destroy much of their equipment and split up.   Wilsons men finally reached safety on July 2.   A month later, Wilson and his men traveled north as part of the forces assigned to Sheridans Army of the Shenandoah.   Tasked with clearing Lieutenant General Jubal A. Early from the Shenandoah Valley, Sheridan attacked the enemy at the Third Battle of Winchester in late September and won a clear victory. James H. Wilson - Back to the West: In October 1864, Wilson was promoted to major general of volunteers and ordered to oversee the cavalry in Shermans  Military Division of the Mississippi.   Arriving in the west, he trained the cavalry that would serve under Brigadier General Judson Kilpatrick during Shermans March to the Sea.   Rather than accompany this force, Wilson remained with Major General George H. Thomas Army of the Cumberland for service in Tennessee. Leading a cavalry corps at the Battle of Franklin on November 30, he played a key role when his men repulsed an attempt to turn the Union left by noted Confederate cavalryman Major General Nathan Bedford Forrest.   Reaching Nashville, Wilson worked to refit his cavalry before the Battle of Nashville on December 15-16.   On the second day of the fighting, his men delivered a blow against Lieutenant General John B. Hoods left flank and then pursued the enemy after they retreated from the field. In March 1865, with little organized opposition remaining, Thomas directed Wilson to lead 13,500 men on a raid deep into Alabama with the goal of destroying the Confederate arsenal at Selma.   In addition to further disrupting the enemys supply situation, the effort would support Major General Edward Canbys operations around Mobile.   Departing on March 22, Wilsons command moved in three columns and met light resistance from troops under Forrest.   Arriving at Selma after several skirmishes with the enemy, he formed to assault the city.   Attacking, Wilson shattered the Confederate lines and routed Forrests men from the town. After burning the arsenal and other military targets, Wilson marched on Montgomery.   Arriving on April 12, he learned of Lees surrender at Appomattox three days earlier.   Pressing on with the raid, Wilson crossed into Georgia and defeated a Confederate force at Columbus on April 16.   After destroying the towns navy yard, he continued on to Macon where the raid ended on April 20.   With the end of hostilities, Wilsons men fanned out as Union troops made an effort to capture fleeing Confederate officials.   As part of this operation, his men succeeded in capturing Confederate President Jefferson Davis on May 10.   Also that month, Wilsons cavalry arrested Major Henry Wirz, commandant of the of the notorious Andersonville prisoner of war camp. James H. Wilson - Later Career Life: With the end of the war, Wilson soon reverted to his regular army rank of lieutenant colonel.   Though officially assigned to the 35th US Infantry, he spent the majority of the final five years of his career engaged in various engineering projects.    Leaving the US Army on December 31, 1870, Wilson worked for several railroads as well as took part in engineering projects on the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.   With the beginning of the Spanish-American War in 1898, Wilson sought a return to military service.   Appointed a major general of volunteers on May 4, he led troops during the conquest of Puerto Rico and later served in Cuba.    Commanding the Department of Matanzas and Santa Clara in Cuba, Wilson accepted an adjustment in rank to brigadier general in April 1899.   The following year, he volunteered for the China Relief Expedition and crossed the Pacific to combat the Boxer Rebellion.   In China from September to December 1900, Wilson aided in the capture of the Eight Temples and Boxer headquarters.   Returning to the United States, he retired in 1901 and represented President Theodore Roosevelt at the coronation of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom the following year.   Active in business, Wilson died at Wilmington, DE on February 23, 1925.   One of the last living Union generals, he was buried in the citys Old Swedes Churchyard. Selected Sources National Park Service: Major General James H. WilsonMr. Lincoln Friends: Major General James H. WilsonEncyclopedia of Alabama: Major General James H. Wilsonskidfadhe or

Role of Political Parties in Japan Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Role of Political Parties in Japan - Essay Example The Japanese political system has been subject to various political changes since the time the constitutional government has emerged. Political Parties emerged in Japan after the Meiji restoration in 1868. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica after 1868 a number of political parties emerged and some of them did get some share in forming the government. According to Hayes the first political party was founded in 1874 and the second one in 1882. The first party was called â€Å"Liberal Party’ and the second one kept on changing its name and finally settled as the Democratic Party. As stated in Encyclopedia Britannica there was a period of inactivity among political parties in the 1930s and 40s due to the war. However total liberty for the formation of political parties was given after the promulgation of the 1947 constitution. Strict rules were followed and any organization which expressed its wish to nominate a person for political posts was to be registered as a political party. As such Japan saw thousands of political parties out of which only a few managed to get a place in the spot light. At present there are five major political parties in Japan. Political system in Japan is based on the leadership provided by the Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition by other parties. Japan owes its success to the policies adopted by the LDP. Indeed LDP has made Japan an economic success on the map of the world. Today Japan is an important member of all the important organizations of the world. Its worth is valued all over and it is all due to the successful policies of the LDP. Other opposition parties have to work hard to bring about a real change in the Japanese political system.

Service-Learning or AIDS WALK Experience Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Service-Learning or AIDS WALK Experience - Essay Example The community received students with a perspective of professionals who had a purpose. Young and old, youth and elderly, the community members, enjoyed seeing the students walk from one corner to another attending to the sick, advising, teaching and activating for a better health in the society. To the students, they had a chance to explore the community needs and wants, apply the class work to practical service to the community and employ their skills in service delivery. The participants arrived at the starting point on time and were issued with T-shirts with the writings, â€Å"AIDS is Real† and â€Å"Anyone can be a victim†. The T-shirts were issued to all the people who had already bought their tickets to participate in the walk. We all were required to pay $ 20 per person to acquire the ticket. It seemed that people had bought the tickets in plenty since the walk attracted more than two thousand people. Everyone seemed jovial to participate in the walk. This walk was aimed at sensitizing the public about AIDS and raise money to assist AIDS victims. The walk started at 10 am and lasted for four hours. We all walked through the city streets in unison and felt as though we were a community. The walk organizers provided all the participants with bottled water and energy drinks, in the course of the walk. This walk had incorporated nearly all the celebrities and other public figures. As we all walked and ran through the city, the national army band thrilled all passersby and the participants. The band played lovely songs that motivated people to continue walking. At the end of the walk, we all converged at the City Hall grounds where the partners and facilitators took us through ways on how we should treat AIDS victims and how we should relate to them. At the start of the AIDS Walk, the participants had formed opinions about the service, partners and personal abilities. Most of the participants thought that the service targeted a specific ethnic group and that it was a disease for gay people. Needless to say, other participants had a mistaken assumption that the partners should help reduce the prevalence of AIDS through the use of drugs alone. The participants also had the misconception that people should not interact with AIDS victims. This makes AIDS victims feel alienated from the society making it extremely difficult for them to open up and share AIDS opinions with the public. Moreover, the participants underestimated their abilities before the start of the walk. Walking 10 kilometers seemed impossible to many of the participants, but they were all surprised. In addition, most of the participants believed that they lacked personal attributes of relating well with AIDS victims. After the walk, all the assumptions held by the participants were proved wrong. Notably, we all gained personal skills on how to treat and relate with AIDS victims. In essence, the students who engage in service learning gain the practical skills and their contexts to provide back to the community the learned skills as services in response to any identified community concerns. The aim of Service learning is to attain equilibrium between service and goals of learning (seifer 1988). This objective fosters critical thinking and ensures there is a connection between theory and experience or practice. The facilitators and the partners noted that AIDS was not a disease for a particular ethnic group and that anyone can be a victim. They cleared the air by indicating that

'The SYMPHONY WAL-MART Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

'The SYMPHONY WAL-MART - Essay Example In fact, with â€Å"supply-chaining†, competition between companies is replaced with competition between supply chains. Thomas Friedman (2005) aptly stated that â€Å"the more these supply chains grow and proliferate, the more they force the adoption of common standard between companies (so that every link of every supply chain can interface with the next), the more they eliminate points of friction at borders, the more the efficiencies of one company get adopted by the others, and the more they encourage global collaboration†. Question 2 At Wal-Mart, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year (24/7/365), suppliers deliver their goods to Wal-Mart distributions centers. The sorting, packing, and distribution of these goods to Wal-Mart stores and shelving in Wal-Mart stores are also carried out 24/7/365. Once a particular goods is purchased by a customer and scanned by the cashier, a signal is generated, which is relayed to the manufacturer of the product, notwith standing the global location of the manufacturer. The generated signal is sent to the manufacturer and he is prompted to produce another of that product. Once the product is produced by the manufacturer, the cycle is repeated. The cycle, according to Thomas Friedman (2005) is on a global scale â€Å"in multiple movements – with no finale† and designated as â€Å"Wal-Mart Symphony†. Question 3 Heavy and early investment on cutting-edge IT infrastructure to identify and track sales on the individual level afforded Wal-Mart a competitive edge over its competitors. Wal-Mart is also smarter and faster in adopting new technologies and innovations than its competitors. Another element of competitive advantage is the culture of buying in large volume directly from the manufacturers at the deepest discount possible and shipping to distribution centers at the lowest possible cost. Furthermore, collaborating with manufacturers to lower cost as much as possible, improving i ts supply chain to be as low-cost and frictionless as possible and improving the information system in order to know customer’s taste and need and feeding this information to the manufacturers also offers Wal-Mart an edge over its competitors. Besides, Wal-Mart also broadens the scope and scale of its supply chain in order to lower price thereby capturing more market than its competitors. Based on Porter five forces, Wal-Mart is considerable competitive advantage. For instance, its low prices favor the bargaining power of its customers over that of its competitor. Though Wal-Mart faces competition from smaller dollar stores and online giant retailers, its ability to secure low prices from its suppliers still enhance its competitive advantage. Furthermore, Table 1 shows SWOT analysis which also supports Wal-Mart competitive advantage in the consumer market. SWOT Analysis Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Worldwide reputation as low price retailer Poor reputation with respect to worker benefits, gender issues Good investment in IT infrastructure and good bargaining power with suppliers Several dollar stores and creating a formidable niche in the consumer market Ambitious managers and cooperate leaders Difficulty in exporting its brand outside the US Adapting its service to the taste and demand of its customers Online retailer such as Amazon makes shopping fun and easy. Question 4 Wal-Mart started

Complaint Letter Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Complaint Letter - Assignment Example After placing my order, I had to wait for more than 30 minutes to receive it. To make matters worse, the order was wrong and the person who served me was not professional enough to address my complaint. Instead, he answered me in a rude way as if I was a stranger in this particular restaurant that I have always treated with great esteem. I have also been forced to write a letter of complaint as a result of the bad treatment I received from one of the company’s staff members. I always believe that the customer is king in business but I was treated as a villain on this day in question. Companies that fail to treat their customers as valuable assets are likely to be negatively impacted by bad publicity they are likely to receive from other disgruntled customers. I therefore expect to get formal apology for this bad experience at McDonalds’ since I am a very loyal customer to the company. This will help me not to issue negative statements about the company that can tarnish its image. The other issue is that the company has not yet responded to my complaint and this has also contribute towards doubting the authenticity of the company in offering reliable and quality services. I probably feel that I have not yet received a response from the organization as a result of the fact that they are investigating the case so as to get to the root cause of the problem. Such kinds of issues need careful attention since they can tarnish the image of the organization if not properly handled. Therefore, the manager dealing with the case ought to take necessary measures that are meant to ensure that this issue has been solved in an amicable way in order to avoid a scenario where the image of the organization will be tarnished as a result of such simple issues. From this experience, I have discovered that some employees can just be rude and they can tarnish the image of the company.

Written Exercise 2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Written Exercise 2 - Research Paper Example t argues that the government should provide more working opportunities for people, regulate businesses more aggressively, and prevent economic inequality in the society. In addition to this Occupy Wall Street Movement argues that the Capitalism employed in the market is not serving its purpose and therefore politicians should not control money. To distinguish the two we can say that Occupy Wall Street Movement is a global affair since its major influence comes from Canada and Middle East countries, which were demonstrating against world economic recession that occurred in 2011 (Reyes, 2011). Wall Street Movements are mainly organized via mails and social networks and it mainly targets the poor people in the society. The Wall Street Movement does not enjoy any support from any institution or media while the Tea party movement involves Republican politicians. The tea Party movement is about the rich people in the society such as the Koch Brothers and yet both groups still differ about the financial and economic system of American government. Tea Party involves middle age and older people while Occupy Wall Street enjoys the support of younger generation hence they use social sites as their major mean of communication. The two party movements have got two different cultural ideologies which is also another difference between the movement groups (Pfaff, 2011). The two groups differ from other political parties mainly in the way they are formed. Occupy Wall Street is not sure of its future leaders as compared to Tea Party which looks organized. Most of its members have also clinched seats in the government. The two parties also differ from other political parties in the past since they only advocate for economic changes in the government while the other political parties challenges for governance and control of power in US (Barrett, 2011). Despite the two parties looking cool and non-violent, it is important to take precautions especially due to the upcoming DRNC

Anaylize the Development of a story- To Build a Fire, by Jack London Essay

Anaylize the Development of a story- To Build a Fire, by Jack London - Essay Example A Chechaquo traveler starts his journey for Henderson Creek in the Yukon Territory of Alaska under the temperature of fifty degrees below zero (London, p.104-105). He begins his journey to meet his friends at an old claim with his native husky dog although; he had been advised not to travel alone in Klondike in such an extreme weather of minus fifty degree at Sulphur creek. The author has devised this pattern at the beginning to acknowledge his readers about the association of human determination verses fate. As nature impacts immensely on the plans of a man and throughout his life the destiny remains like an oasis for him. Thus, the author has depicted the zeal of a man for accomplishments and life along with his struggle to survive even in the worst case scenario. This story is about a one day journey probably few hours after 9 am. The unknown traveler observes the extremity of weather by spitting and his spit is frozen in the mid air before it lands on the snow covered ground. His nose and cheeks are frozen and he expects frost bite, if he did not warm them. He travels with determination in an unknown zone despite of the cold to reach his destiny leaving the main trail and carefully avoiding the soft patches of the creek. The author has demonstrated amorality and responsibility in the later part of the story. He has woven the storyline in such a fashion to furnish his naturalist inclinations and to show the human planning, thinking and action process as inevitable to fate’s or nature’s decisions. Therefore, man even with his vigilant planning and meticulous decisions cannot avoid or forgo the misery destined for him. Extreme cold weather is the antagonist of the story; thus, the author has developed acceptance in the readers to expect the worst from the nature without being judgmental about it. Around twelve O’clock he sat down to eat his lunch but to his horror his fingers, toes

Written Exercise 2 Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Written Exercise 2 - Research Paper Example t argues that the government should provide more working opportunities for people, regulate businesses more aggressively, and prevent economic inequality in the society. In addition to this Occupy Wall Street Movement argues that the Capitalism employed in the market is not serving its purpose and therefore politicians should not control money. To distinguish the two we can say that Occupy Wall Street Movement is a global affair since its major influence comes from Canada and Middle East countries, which were demonstrating against world economic recession that occurred in 2011 (Reyes, 2011). Wall Street Movements are mainly organized via mails and social networks and it mainly targets the poor people in the society. The Wall Street Movement does not enjoy any support from any institution or media while the Tea party movement involves Republican politicians. The tea Party movement is about the rich people in the society such as the Koch Brothers and yet both groups still differ about the financial and economic system of American government. Tea Party involves middle age and older people while Occupy Wall Street enjoys the support of younger generation hence they use social sites as their major mean of communication. The two party movements have got two different cultural ideologies which is also another difference between the movement groups (Pfaff, 2011). The two groups differ from other political parties mainly in the way they are formed. Occupy Wall Street is not sure of its future leaders as compared to Tea Party which looks organized. Most of its members have also clinched seats in the government. The two parties also differ from other political parties in the past since they only advocate for economic changes in the government while the other political parties challenges for governance and control of power in US (Barrett, 2011). Despite the two parties looking cool and non-violent, it is important to take precautions especially due to the upcoming DRNC

The Spanish Settlement Essay Example for Free

The Spanish Settlement Essay During the 17th century, many nations started settling all throughout North America. Spanish conquistadors claimed much of the Southwest, while England began to occupy the Northeast. The Spanish and English colonies varied in terms of the impact of religion and control of the economy. The Spanish and English colonies varied in terms of religion such as immigration and opinions on salvation. Starting in the late 1500s and early 1600s, conquistadors such as Vasco Nunuez de Balboa and Herman Cortes of the Spanish empire first started to make their way into the New World. Known for their mantra, â€Å"Gold, Glory, God†, the main reason for their expansion was for power and wealth. In the Spanish church, the Pope decided who went to Heaven. This scared most Roman Catholics of the Spanish Empire into following the rules of the church. The Spanish ships arrived containing soldiers of the Spanish empire as well as Franciscan Friars, or priests of the Roman Catholic Church. The priests began converting Native Americans to Catholicism. The Spanish believed that by converting the Native Americans, the natives would be saved from an eternity spent in Hell. (This belief led them to demand tribute from the Native Americans.) Due to the notion that the Pope grants entrance into heaven, King Phillip III of the Spanish Empire fulfilled any demand the head of the church had. When the Pope insisted the Roman Catholic Church needed more money, King Phillip III made it a requirement for converted Native Americans to pay tribute to the Spanish using gold and silver bullion. On the other hand, English settlers came to the New World to practice their religion freely. After England broke away from the Roman Catholic Church in the 1500s, The Church of England was founded and all of England was forced to belong. The Puritans did not agree with ways of the Anglican Church. After years of being punished by King Charles I for not obeying the Church of England’s rules, the Puritans came to the New World. The colonists founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629 as a way to reform parts of the Protestant religion. One major aspect of the Anglican Church that the Puritans wanted to reform was the belief that one’s actions on earth determined entrance into Heaven. The Puritans believed in predestination, a belief that God decides who will go to Heaven and Hell before birth. A Puritan’s actions on Earth were evidence of who was going to heaven. The Spanish and the English came to the New World for different reasons. The Spanish came to expand their empire through religion. The  English wanted religious freedom. The Spanish settlers had strong ties back the Spanish empire; all tribute that Native Americans aid to the Spanish settlers was sent back to the Spanish empire and Roman Catholic Church. Because the English setters came to the New World to distance themselves from England, the colonists of New England were mostly on their own. Because of this, English settlers were more independent and self-sufficient. The cultures also had different ideas about salvation. The Spanish believed that leaders of the church decide who goes to heaven. The English believed that their fate was predestined, and that God chose who will go to heaven before birth. Because of the Spanish settlers reliance on the church officials, the English settlers show more independence than the Spanish. Another difference between the Spanish settlers of the Southwest and English settlers of New England were their views on acceptable ways to treat the Native Americans economically and on proper handling of wealth. The Spanish used the encomienda system to acquire wealth. Under this system, an ecomendero was granted a specific number of Native Americans to protect from other tribes and teach the Spanish language to. In exchange, the encomendero could force the Native Americans to pay tribute in forms of bullion and labor. Eventually, the native people began to die off from the harsh labor and foreign diseases that the Spanish brought from Spain. The Native Americans rejected Spanish control and returned to their customs. Angered by this, the Spanish captured 46 Pueblo leaders, which started the Pueblo Revolt. After years of fighting, the Spanish regained control. In New England, relationships with local Native Americans started out peaceful. The Native Americans and settlers of New England began to trade with each other. Native Americans, who were used to their elementary weapons, acquired better weapons from the Europeans. This once beneficiary exchange between the two cultures eventually grew tense. As years went on and more settlers came to America, conflicts arose. An agreement formed between Dutch settlers of New York and the English settlers of New England about the division of the Pequot lands. When no immediate decisions were reached of who would gain the land, New Englanders started to settle in the area without notice. The Pequot took this unplanned invasion as a form of attack, and fought back. After a series of attacks, New England called for reinforcements from allies. By joining forces with Plymouth and the Narragansett people, the  English gained control of the lands. In Spanish settlements, the economy revolved around mercantilism. The colonies were founded to economically compliment the Spanish empire by sending all wealth back to Spain. Foreign ships were prohibited to enter Spanish ports to keep a positive balance of trade. On the other side of the New World, the English colony of Plymouth initially set up a communal society. The entire community shared the land and helped farm. This later proved to be unsuccessful, and the land was divided up. In New England, farming was possible, but not particularly successful. The rocky soil and short growing season made growing the majority of crops difficult. The English settlers found the most profit in fishing and large trading ships. Since the colonists of New England were independent, from England, all profit made from farming and fishing stayed in the colonies. The Spanish and English battled with Native Americans of the Southwest and New England. The Spanish settlers, coming from a large empire, already had the taste for conquering other nations. Defeating cultures was a foreign concept to the people of New England. Their humble victory over the Pequot people resulted in unexpected success. The Spanish and English had similar economies with major differences. The Spanish economy was based on mercantilism. This gives evidence of ties back the Spanish empire, who ruled Spanish settlements. The English colonists traded with Europe, but also raised crops and cattle for themselves. While the Spanish sent their gained wealth back to Spain, the English settlers were able to make a profit. Because the Spanish settlements economy was created to benefit the Spanish empire, English settlers are more independent than the empire reliant Spanish. The Spanish and English settlers varied due to the English settler’s independence. The Spanish settlers showed more dependent on Spain, while English settlers showed independence when it came to treatment of Native Americans and economically using resources widely. The colonists of New England were better prepared for life on their own, and eventually gained control of all of America.

Bullying: Effects On Social Anxiety And Self Esteem

Bullying: Effects On Social Anxiety And Self Esteem The present study documented measures of social anxiety and self esteem in adolescents and sought to determine its association with dimensions of bullying in victims. Social anxiety entails feelings of apprehension in social situations, while bullying involves recurrent and intentional acts like teasing to injure another and has been suggested in the occurrence of social anxiety. Self esteem refers to the general view of oneself and proposed as a link with bullying. An independent variable of this study is bullying while dependent variables are social anxiety and self esteem. Two hypotheses were yielded: (a) higher rates of bullying in victims were linked with social anxiety and (b) there is a relationship between bullying and self esteem. Eriksons developmental theory of Identity versus Role Confusion supported hypotheses of why bullying increased social anxiety and lowered self esteem in adolescent victims. Adolescents between ages of 12 and 20 completed self-report questionnaires on bullying, social anxiety and self esteem. Results proposed individuals who identified themselves as bullied victims had higher degrees of social anxiety and lower self esteem. Keywords: social anxiety, self esteem, adolescents, bullying, victims, erikson, developmental, identity, role confusion Chapter One: Introduction Before measuring the association between bullying, social anxiety and self esteem, it is crucial to be equipped with an understanding of the variables. Bullying With the intention of conducting investigations on bullying, researchers have to first determine what exactly is bullying As denoted by Marini, Spear and Bombay (1999), bullying is the manipulation of physical and emotional influence of deliberate harm towards a person, thereby producing a destructive environment instilling anxiety, threat and apprehension in an individual. Adding onto Marini et al.s (1999) definition, researchers who further assessed bullying indicated two different types namely direct and indirect. Direct bullying is portrayed as perpetual, existing as bodily assaults like kicking and hitting, while indirect bullying consists of behaviours such as teasing and intentional exclusion of an adolescent (Fitzpatrick et al., 2007; Haddow, 2006; Hampel, Manhold, Hayer, 2009; Nansel et al., 2001; Omizo et al., 2006; Raskauskas Stoltz, 2007). Social Anxiety An underlying characteristic of social anxiety is a phobia of social settings and interpersonal communication yielding self awareness and negative beliefs of oneself. Individuals suffering from social anxiety typically dread negative assessment by people (DSM-IV-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Based on Slee (1994), social anxiety has been unveiled to impact negatively on peer involvement, thereafter contributing to peer refusal. Self-Esteem Schaffer (1996) postulates self esteem as an assessment of an individual and the extent to which one perceives himself or herself as either optimistic or undesirable. Cooley (1902) proposed an understanding of oneself is shaped in accordance with peoples behaviour towards the self. Those who obtained positive views from others like a compliment would have increased self esteem. Onset of Bullying Bullying has evolved into a universal issue in adolescence. Several public findings by Cho, Hendrickson, Mock (2009) recognized bullying as multifaceted, producing a series of adverse societal, psychological and educational effects on adolescents. A justification for the rise of bullying occurrences in adolescence could be because of numerous progressive changes happening in this stage. Such changes include emotional ones like escalation in anxiety (Green, 2007; Nansel et al., 2001; Pergolizzi et al., 2007). Bulach, Fulbright and Williams (2003) theorized the manner in which bullying contributed significantly to the development of school violence. This was evidenced by an incident in 1998; Georgia, where an adolescent succumbed to death due to school bullying. The misfortune evoked awareness in the country where regulations on bullying were authorized. Hence, it is no wonder bullying is acknowledged as a prominent kind of violence in schools (Bulach et al., 2003; Olweus, 2003; Siris Osterman, 2004; Vossekuil, Fein, Reddy, Borum, Modzeleski, 2002). The following describes the influence of bullying on victims by highlighting the prevalence rates, thereafter introducing traits of victims and how these are linked with social anxiety and self esteem. Prevalence of Bullying Bullying is highly prevalent among adolescents and differs among cultures. It results in detrimental consequences and persists as a stumbling block in schools, where adolescents struggle to handle distress from bullying. National studies directed by Nansel et al (2001) demonstrated an approximate of 2,027,254 adolescents identified themselves as victims of temperate bullying while 1,681,030 youths engaged in repeated bullying. Reviews have generated an increasing interest on bullying in the 21st century (Rigby 2003; Arseneault et al. 2009), with adolescents of United States of America (USA) generating the highest distress from either forms of bullying. This is evident in a study, where an estimated 10% claimed to be bullies or victims at least once a month (Omizo, Omizi, Baxa, Miyse, 2006). A study by Olweus and Limber (1999) stated approximately 1.6 million of college adolescents in (USA) constituted bullied victims. Additionally, Nansel et al. (2001) uncovered 30% of them were linked with bullying, existing as a bully, victim or both. A separate statement by the U.S. Department of Education revealed 77% of adolescents whom were assessed were victims throughout their entire education (Garbarino et al., 2003). With bullying occurrences on the rise, researchers have thus commenced detailed examinations to further evaluate such occurrences in adolescence (Espelage Asidao, 2003). Since such elevated incidences of bullying are a cause for concern, it is vital to be mindful of different types of aggression and that bullying is just a specific kind. Despite majority of studies on issues of adolescent bullying for bullies and victims, only those pertaining to victims and the relation to social anxiety would be investigated. Attributes of Victims This group of adolescents are known as receivers of violence inflicted by their aggressors. Victims are more likely to appear timid, withdrawn and lack motor synchronization. Besides being known to have minute body sizes and regarded as undesirable by their peers (Bernstein and Watson, 1997), they have nervous disposition characterized by an intense worry of negative appraisal from people, (Bernstein Watson, 1997; Haynie et al., 2001), a trait of social anxiety. In addition, these victims display avoidance in social settings as a result of being bullied (Fitzpatrick, Dulin Piko, 2010; Ivarsson, Broberg, Arvidsson, Gillberg, 2005; Hampel et al., 2009). Olweus (1973, 1978) recognized victims exist in two groups; submissive and highly aggressive or provocative victims. The submissive ones are portrayed as vulnerable and do not incite bullies to further violence. Instead, they behave in ways that intensify the act. As submissive victims do not protect themselves, they are deemed weak, therefore undergoing peer refusal, an aspect of social anxiety. On the contrary, provocative victims exhibit restlessness and seem more irritable. They are likely to retaliate during assaults. Though all victims are highly susceptible of appraisal especially negative ones, submissive victims are more affected by such criticism and reproach themselves repeatedly. Highly aggressive victims portray nervous tendencies and difficulties focusing on tasks at hand, experiencing greater disregard compared to submissive victims. Victims and Social Anxiety Though anxiety is manifested in several forms, social anxiety is most palpable in bullied victims and acknowledged as a persistent disorder (Watson and Friend, 1969; as mentioned in Slee, 1994). Adolescents who suffered from childhood bullying may be at greater exposure to being bullied in school (Chapell et., 2004). Despite beliefs on bullying as uncommon in schools, a study has disputed such claims, indicating bullying rates as frequent across some colleges (Chapell et al.). A study was held on 1,025 university students where 60% claimed to have witnessed bullying and around 44% noticed a lecturer victimizing a student (Chappel et al.). This finding led Chapell and his team (2006) to further investigations, where a clear link regarding bullying occurrences in infancy, adolescence or both stages and chances of becoming victims in school was established. Their results are of considerable importance as it can assist some medical practitioners in treatment effects as they manage patients who might be bullied victims before. Social anxiety results in public aversion and restraint in affected individuals, reducing peer involvement due to a self belief of being undesirable by people (Ginsburg et al., 1998), therefore affecting peer communication which prolongs bullying and decreases their self esteem. This understanding was further developed as Crick and Bigbee (1998) noted adverse peer communication can affect ones self assessment, thus accounting for insufficient self esteem and exacerbates social anxiety. Investigators uncovered not all victims of bullying manifest social anxiety in adulthood (Hawker Boulton, 2000; Jantzer, Hoover, Narloch, 2006; Newman, Holden, Delville, 2005; Olweus, 1993; Schafer et al., 2004). However, regardless of their studies that bullying might suggest psychosocial issues during adolescence, there is still inadequate interest in the understanding of why only certain adolescents may experience such issues. Reviews (Chapell et al., 2004; Chapell et al., 2006) indicated adolescents who recalled being victims of bullying were at heightened possibilities of social anxiety in contrast with those who had no recollection. Such experiences pose worry particularly since bullying throughout adolescence has displayed a significant connection with higher emotional and interpersonal difficulties (Dempsey Storch, 2008; Hawker Boulton, 2000; Jantzer, Hoover, Narloch, 2006; Newman, Holden, Delville, 2005; Olweus, 1993; Schafer et al., 2004; Tritt Duncan, 1997). Further analyses on previous bullying occurrences in males who were weekly sufferers discovered that they regarded anxious tendencies as a result of being bullied (Gladstone, Parker, Malhi, 2006). Similarly, the ability to recall past episodes of attacks was known to influence its start, with adolescents who recollected their situation recording a hastened experience of anxiety conditions and greater unease in social settings as compared to those who failed to remember their traumatic experience (McCabe, Miller, Laugesen, Antony, Young, 2010). An analogous study revealed adolescents who were victims before displayed more negative perception of the public than non-bullied adolescents. This perception is an example noted in anxiety disorders (Hawker Boulton, 2003). Furthermore, bullying accounts have specified adolescents who were once victims had more inclination to display characteristics of social anxiety like phobia of negative appraisal from others and social avoidance (Dempsey Storch, 2008). In comparison with non-bullied adolescents, victims are known to experience elevated psychological and emotional suffering due to bullying episodes they faced in school. Research has suggested this intense distress would persist even in adulthood (Fekkes, Pijpers, Verloove-Vanhorick, 2003; Hampel et al., 2009; Solberg Olweus, 2003). Està ©vez, Murgui, and Musitu (2009) piloted a finding on psychological changes with regards to social anxiety and self esteem in 1,319 adolescents. It was revealed bullied victims manifested higher social anxiety and greater discontentment with life compared to bullies and those non-bullied. This was reinforced in bullied. This was reinforced in Fitpatrick et al.s (2010) review where low self esteem and high degrees of social anxiety were evident due to bullying occurrences. Graham and Bellmore (2007) formed a profile sheet for bullying by grouping it based on bullies, victims, bully-victims and those non-bullied. They discovered significant disparities of psychological changes in victims, bullies and non-bullied adolescents, where victims garnered the most scores for anxiety and least in self esteem. In contrast, bullies yielded the lowest degree of social anxiety and were extremely high on self esteem scores. Based on cross sectional information, a study on 226 adolescents with past occurrences of being bullies and victims was operated (Gladstone et al., 2006). Gladstone and his team focused on victims and their likelihood of displaying anxious tendencies in adulthood. Self reported measures were used to determine anxiety. Results depicted bullied victims had greater levels of social anxiety and suffer from insufficient self esteem. Furthermore, social anxiety was still constant in a notable percentage of victims, expanding current findings on the relationship between bullied victims and adverse effects they experience. Additional research on bullying was conducted by Menensi et al. (2009) which concentrated specifically on psychological influences of bullying on victims. This assessment indicated bullies engaged in threatening behaviours like violence while victims suffered from worrying symptoms including social anxiety. In Esbensen and Carsons (2009) four year analysis, based on the belief that bullying happens continuously which causes major psychological issues like social anxiety, a set of questions were devised to establish the outcome of bullied victims and bullies. An apparent disparity in bullying frequency was uncovered. A meagre 28% indicated themselves as victims in yes and no questions; whereas 82% admitted they were victims on questions inquiring personal development and behaviour. Victims faced with bullying on a constant basis also experienced increased social anxiety, higher possibilities of being harmed at school and a severe fear of being bullied, which was supportive of Menensi et al.s (2009) study. Bullying and Self-Esteem The effects of bullying are well documented in countless reviews, from lingering health issues to emotional distress and diminished self esteem. Self esteem is constituted by a series of beliefs an individual has (Berk, 2009). The relationship of bullied victims and low levels of self esteem is clear. This is apparent in Houbre et al.s (2006) report which implied a lack of self worth in victims who were seemingly displeased with their physical appearance. This negative self evaluation may cause victims to isolate themselves from the public, and this could result in mental health issues. Hence, it is significant to identify the connection between bullying and how it leads to low self esteem in victims. According to Hodges and Perry (1999), bullying serves as factors of self esteem and social anxiety. A co-relational study on 8,249 Irish adolescents indicated links between rates of bullying and esteem, where bullies garnered least self esteem and anxiety (OMoore Kirkham, 2001). A separate study directed by Rigby and Slee (1999) on bullying in adolescence revealed 48.8% of males and 62.5% of females who lacked self esteem suffered more negativity following an assault. As a result, they have lesser peer involvement and suffer from refusal, triggering weakened self esteem and isolation from social settings, a core aspect of social anxiety. Thus, as predicted, it appears that self esteem contributes notably to the domains of bullying as well as social anxiety. In a subsequent finding, Houbre, Tarquinio and Lanfranchi (2010) questioned if low self esteem was a determinant and outcome of bullying. Their study supported the idea of self esteem as a predictor of bullying based on results portraying pessimistic beliefs as the strongest indication of the act. In addition, further examination by them on repetitive bullying and self esteem described the extent to which both were connected; the lower the self esteem, the higher the occurrence of the attack. Apparently, bullying can reduce a victims self esteem. Despite victims possessing a likelihood of being bullied, such attacks decrease their self esteem and also exacerbate feelings of anxiety as they accept their aggressors beliefs. Thus, these findings imply that self esteem can exist as a cause of bullying and can also be influenced by it. Ample evidence regarding self esteem in bullying occurrences has been displayed before (Andreou, 2000; Callaghan Joseph, 1995; Ross, 1996). Boulton and Underwoods (1992) study unveiled a whopping 80% of adolescents claimed to experience more happiness and confidence in life before episodes of bullying commenced. This is further evidenced in Bosworth et als (1999) analysis on 558 students of a certain academic level, where low degrees of self esteem and higher bullying rates were linked. Moreover, victims of bullying were recognized to have lower self esteem in comparison with bullies and those not implicated (Andreou, 2000; Bolton Underwood, 1992). Hence, self esteem served as an originator and a result of bullying (Graham and Juvonen, 1998). In a precise finding by Graham and Juvonen (1998), it was noted that adolescents who perceived themselves as victims came across several social issues like low self esteem. This is in contrast with adolescents, who were identified as bullied v ictims by their peers, suffering from peer issues like refusal. Nansel et al.s (2001) research relating to self esteem and the capability to befriend others produced an unfavourable relationship with school bullying, but was surprisingly positively correlated with victimizing people. This is reasoned by Borgs (1998) study which stated male victims were extremely resentful and female victims were mainly unhappy. As feelings of resentment and unhappiness result in distress which affects victims self esteem, they may also be placed at heightened risks of being bullied (Hazler, 2000). In different reviews, the extent of bullying is considered an influence of an adolescents mental well being. This seems to imply anxious tendencies of an adolescent are likely to stem from bullying. This notion was supported by an examination on bullying as a correlation of decreased self esteem and elevated intensities of anxiety (Mynard, Joseph and Alexander, 2000). An exact finding by Mynard et al. (2000) purported oral bullying as a negative link with self esteem and that adverse outcomes of bullying may vary based on the extent of aggression applied. As a majority of adolescents are predisposed to intimidation by bullies, one possible reason for those who are more confident and less anxious would be their low acceptance of assaults by bullies as they attempt to protect themselves against harm, instead of the victims who fail to retaliate (Egan Perry, 1998). This explanation hence clarifies why only some adolescents who lack self regard and display social anxiety depict a phase of bullying. Several findings specified self esteem as a significant link to bullying and social anxiety, proposing that bullying incidents cause unfavourable effects on an individuals self esteem, thus justifying the high degrees of social anxiety according to them (Bernstein Watson, 1997; Fosse Holen, 2002; Kumpulainen, Rasanen and Henttonen, 1999; Kumpulainen Rasanen, 2000; Mahady-Wilton, Craig, Pepler, 2000; Marini, Spear Bombay, 1999; Nansel, Overpeck, Pilla, Ruan, Simons Morton, Scheidt, 2001; Perry, Kusal Perry, 1988; Rigby, 2000; Roecker Phelps, 2001).